Riding around - and around, and around, and around, and around - the Mosgiel velodrome for 24 hours will make you look 30 years older.
That is what Portobello's Andrew Nicholson thought when he looked in the mirror yesterday.
He had just shattered the New Zealand outdoor 24-hour cycling record, previously held by Kapiti rider Stuart Downes, by 85.77km.
Minus a quick stop to fix a puncture and a shoe change, Nicholson (44) circled the velodrome continuously from 7am on Thursday until 7am yesterday, cycling a staggering 776.77km in the process.
''It was the hardest event I have ever done, and I've done some hard events,'' he told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
''I got a shock when I looked in the mirror. I'm 44 now but I looked 74 when I finished. I looked in the mirror when I had a wash and I had sunken eyes and I just looked awful.''
Nicholson, who had been aiming to cycle 800km, went past Downes' 691km record at the 21-hour mark, and said he knew he was on track to break the record after 10 hours.
That is because he executed his plan to perfection - creating a buffer by storming out of the gates on Thursday and completing 500km in the first 14 hours. His fast start allowed him to drop his speed during the night, but he still finished with a 32.3kmh average speed.
The first thing Nicholson, a former Winter Olympic speed skater, did after the race was hug his wife, Patricia, and brother, Chris, a New Zealand Olympic speed-skating and cycling representative.
His brother lent him the bike and was in the support crew that kept his energy levels up with sport gel, chocolate milk, muesli bars, lollies and creamed rice.
To avoid losing time by taking toilet breaks, Nicholson used a modified condom and a tube when he needed to urinate.
As well as losing about six minutes to change shoes and fix a puncture, wind cost him about 20km, he said.
Nicholson, who has completed the one-day Coast to Coast race five times and competed in the 1991 Tour of Southland, vomited a few times after finishing and finally managed to stomach some cornflakes yesterday afternoon.
''My neck is the sorest. It's really trashed and my knees are starting to throb,'' he said.
''After some of the hard training rides I was doing, I was feeling it [the pain] four days later. This will be more again. I won't want to ride a bike for a while.
''I've been mildly concerned about my health since finishing, but Patricia [my stepdaughter] and my brother have been keeping an eye on me.''
The biggest challenge was riding through the night, he said.
''When I had sleep deprivation, I was paranoid I was going to crash the whole time because my upper body was getting weak.
''I was saying to myself the whole time, `Get off the seat, keep the wrists strong.' You can't ride slower than 20kmh or you will fall off,'' he said.
Feeling the pain, Nicholson struggled to think about any possible future quests, but did not rule out another record attempt of some sort.
• Nicholson used the ride to raise money for the University of Otago's Centre for Translational Cancer Research. Donations can still be made at www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/24hours4CTCR.
- Robert van Royen
